Settlers set fire to mosque in West Bank as Israeli forces raid villages

Israeli settlers have set fire to a mosque, an olive tree and a vehicle in the occupied West Bank, as Israeli forces continue to carry out raids across the territory.

The settlers started the fires while raiding the village of Mikhmas early on Wednesday, according to the Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

Reports online say the settlers spray painted racist slogans on the walls of the mosque, as well as other buildings and Palestinians’ homes.

Pogroms carried out by settlers across the occupied Palestinian territory have surged since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza three years ago. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have accused the Israeli government of facilitating settler violence in a push to expand Israeli control of Palestinian land.

Elsewhere in the West Bank on Wednesday, settlers attacked a Palestinian boy in the town of Beita, south of Nablus, while Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians following a raid in the city of Qalqilya. Troops also raided the village of Tammun and fired tear gas, according to the Palestinian news outlet Quds News Network.

With the olive harvest under way across the West Bank, Israeli settlers have been mobilising to intimidate and obstruct Palestinian farmers, who rely on the crop as a crucial source of revenue.

According to Amnesty International, about 750,000 settlers live illegally in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. Settlements in occupied territory are illegal under international law.